An Australian man believes that his misguided desire for a memento while visiting a sacred site has unleashed an infamous curse upon his life and he's willing to travel a great distance to make amends. Steve Hill journeyed to the rock formation Uluru last June and, while there, pocketed a piece of the site, which is revered by the Aboriginal people, in the form of a relatively small stone. Remarkably, he did this knowing full well that there is a longstanding legend that those who pilfer pieces from the site are inflicted with the 'Uluru Curse.'
Telling the Canberra Times that he thought the tale was "a load of baloney," Hill now laments that the decision has tormented him ever since and beyond merely through feelings of guilt. According to him, weird incidents began unfolding in his life from almost the moment he left Uluru. On his way home from the site, Hill claims, his car was essentially attacked by what sound like crazed kangaroos. "Instead of moving out of the way, they were actually slamming into the car," he recalled.
It was then that he began to wonder if stealing the rock was such a good idea and his suspicions were strengthened when, shortly thereafter, the engine of his car died in an fashion that baffled mechanics. In the weeks and months that followed, Hill was plagued by constant feelings of anxiety and refused to even bring the stone into his house for fear of what might happen. He finally concluded that he was cursed after all of the photos from his trip to Uluru vanished from his phone.
Sensing that this was some kind of message, he now plans to go back to the site and return the rock to where it belongs in the hopes that it will break the curse. In a testament to how serious he is about this hex-busting mission, Hill will have to travel nearly 2,000 miles from his home in the town of Sterling, Australia. But it's a distance he's willing to go if it means never having to worry about what the cursed rock may conjure next.
Lest one think that Hill is simply being paranoid, it would seem that he is merely one of a surprisingly large number of people who have had similar experiences. Dozens of people each year reportedly return rocks that they had stolen from Uluru to the national park office that oversees the site. The phenomenon is so prevalent that the objects have come to be known as 'sorry rocks' and they are placed at a 'neutral space' at the site in order to not offend the forces behind the curse should they be put in the wrong place. No doubt, the odd collection of rocks also serves as a warning to park visitors of what might happen to them should they decide to tempt fate as well.
